


Dressed for Success

by Freedom_Shamrock



Series: Adrinette April 2018 [13]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Adrinette April 2018, Aged Up, Friendship, Gen, adrienette - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-26
Updated: 2018-04-26
Packaged: 2019-04-28 09:16:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14446110
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Freedom_Shamrock/pseuds/Freedom_Shamrock
Summary: Adrien has another favor to ask of Marinette.  She did offer to help him with anything.





	Dressed for Success

**Author's Note:**

> Adrinette April prompt #24 - piano.
> 
> This follows "Constructive Critique," but can be read on its own.

"Hey Marinette," Adrien called, bounding down the stairs in a very ungentlemanly fashion that would totally get him reamed if his father were there to see it.  It was just him, Gerard, and Nathalie in the house tonight, though, so he just got a stern glare from his father's assistant. "I'm glad you could make it. I  **really** need your help on this."

Marinette's cheerful smile seemed to brighten the mansion's gloomy grand entry.  "I told you, Adrien. I'm always happy to help." She nodded to Nathalie. "Thank you Ms. Sancoeur."

"I was of the understanding that you were working on your performance piece this evening," Nathalie prodded.

Adrien nodded.  "I am. But I need a little help if I'm going to present the way father wants me to."  He caught Marinette's hand. "Trust me, Marinette is the perfect person for the job." He gave her a little tug.  "Here, we'll go up to my room and I can show you the problem."

Just having Marinette in the house made it seem warmer.  Or maybe he was a little amped up on adrenalin. He'd gotten an e-mail from his father praising his recent photo shoots, all of which featured expressions and poses Marinette had helped him perfect.  Praise, was probably too strong a word, his father wasn't that effusive. But it was his version of it.

"You have a performance coming up?" Marinette asked as he lead her into his room.  "What kind?"

"Piano."  He let go of her hand, realizing that it had been nice to be so close to her, then gestured to the instrument in his room.  "My father wants me to play at the Gabriel fashion week afterparty." It was part of his father's plan to emphasize that Adrien was more than just a pretty face, and Adrien would be the good trained monkey his father expected.  

"Aren't you working the runway for that show, too?" Marinette asked in surprise.

Adrien nodded.  "I always do runway for my father's shows."

"And you have to play piano afterward?"  Her face made her disgruntlement clear. "Aren't you going to be exhausted?"

Adrien shrugged.  "I'm only walking twice, so it's not as bad as other years."  He'd been able to negotiate that change with the same argument she'd just posed.  "And sure, it'll be a long night, but that's kind of what fashion week is about." He shot her a smirk straight out of his Chat Noir repertoire, which she'd insisted needed to be a routine expression for his shoots.  "All fashion and no sleep."

Marinette shook her head and let out a focused huff of air that shot her bangs up for a moment.  "Fine. You're going to do this, and I think Nino, Alya, and I need to find a way to sneak you naps leading up to fashion week, and caffeine during."

"Thanks Mari."  He reached out and rested a hand on her shoulder.  "You're the greatest."

"So… what am I helping you with now?" she asked, eyeing up the piano.  "I… can't play an instrument. Nino may actually be better suited for this, if he's allowed in your house, that is."

"Pssht."  Adrien flapped his hand at the piano.  "That's not what I need help with. I've been playing for years, and I've picked great chamber pieces that I can do half-asleep."  He grinned at her. "I was thinking ahead."

"You usually do," she pointed out.

"The problem is, I don't know what to wear."  He walked over and opened his walk-in closet, packed with designer clothes, some he'd worn once for a shoot, others he'd never needed.  "I'm on my own here, and I don't want to upset my father by wearing the wrong thing. Apparently I was supposed to learn the rules to appropriate dress while modeling, but that really hasn't panned out."

"Ohhhhh."  Her perfect blue eyes went wide for a moment.  "You're right. I  **am** perfectly suited to this task."  She giggled and he wondered if it was because of her pun, or if she'd even noticed that.  "So you won't be wearing one of the new pieces to the afterparty?"

Adrien shook his head.  "Nope. Father only does that with the showstopper pieces."

"And he's not putting you in a showstopper, because?"  She held out her hands in an exaggerated shrug.

His hand came up to rub at the back of his neck.  Okay, so this was a  **little** embarrassing.  "Father's happy with the work I've been doing, but I've been growing a lot lately."

"I'd noticed," Marinette agreed, smothering a giggle.

"Yeah, well I'm not quite as well proportioned right now, and my awkward leggy stage isn't going to adequately display the pinnacle of fashion."  He shrugged. He was actually glad to be out of the running for the extra ornate and usually more complicated pieces, though it sort of sucked that it was because he was weird looking.

Marinette stared at him for a full minute, a scowl slowly appearing on her face.  "You are not awkwardly leggy." Her voice was oddly clipped, irritated in a way that he'd only heard with Chloe, in the past.  "You are an impossibly beautiful boy, so I hope you aren't beating yourself up for going through adolescence like the rest of us."  She let out another huff and then stomped to his closet.

"I know anything you will pick will be fantastic, Mari," Adrien said, moving in next to her in case she had questions.

Her hands were shoving hangers aside, hastily giving her a look at his ridiculous formal wear collection.  "We're going to make sure you shine like the showstopper you are, and your father will see his mistake."

**Author's Note:**

> 30 minute speed write.
> 
> I'm going to try to get a second Adrinette April piece up during my daughter's dance class this evening.
> 
> Feel free to visit me over on [Tumblr](http://freedom-shamrock.tumblr.com/). If you have constructive feedback or need to discuss an aspect of this story, I've found that sort of thing tends to work better via direct messaging or asks than the comments section here.


End file.
